When the River of Charn Ran Red
by lovenarnia
Summary: Jadis' perspective on her use of the Deplorable Word. Rated T for violence, both actual and implied-Jadis isn't exactly known for being nice. One-shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Jadis (in that respect I actually feel sorry for Lewis!) or Charn or anything else in the Chronicles of Narnia.**

A/N: If this is terrible, please tell me! My plot bunny got out of my head and I'm not sure where it went.

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><p>This is Charn as it is now: a lonely, desolate place of crumbling masonry and shriveled vines. But for ages and ages, thousands of eons, it was a thriving land, filled with life and grandeur.<p>

_For as long as Charn had existed, the air was filled with the creaking of wheels and the cracking of whips, the sacrificial drums beating in the temples to Helel, the Sun god, Bringer of Morning._

_And then, in one instant, one woman blotted it out forever—I, Jadis, Queen of Charn and Empress of the Worlds._

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><p>My ancestors had known of such a thing as the Word since time began. They, soft and weak as they were, forbad anyone from learning it and sent those who knew it into exile or death. I, however, used my art to find one who knew it. And, by my art, I knew she would try to speak it soon.<p>

Morganna Le Fay lived in another world, called _Earth_. The most trusted advisor of a powerful king, fairy blood mixed with human flowed through her veins. What was her blood to my Giantish and Jinnish blood? I had not a drop of human blood in me—that hated race.

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><p>We met in the sordid dungeons of the castle. I had counted on only using her to teach me the Word, but she insisted on full compensation—and only my most precious treasure would suffice. The dust—the fine, dry dust from the world before her world, the city from which my ancestors had come—Atlantis. I knew that, if I could only get the dust into the rings from which it came, before they crumbled to dust, I could travel to other worlds, perhaps rule them. And here was this minion, demanding that dust!<p>

But, then, perhaps it was worth losing the dust to learn the Word to end all things. My father was old, and my older sister would surely ascend to the throne. Why should I not triumph over her? Why not use the Word to become the Queen of the World?

But before she could teach me, I set powerful spells on her—spells to restrain her from going back to her world at the same time she left it. Instead I would send her to a time and place where few believed in her magic, few trusted in her powers, and she would not have the ability to use that fateful, deplorable Word.

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><p>She taught me the Word, and the ceremonies that accompanied it. Then, suddenly, she took the box of Dust and disappeared.<p>

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><p>I killed my father. With my own, bare hands I killed him, squeezed the life out of his gasping throat, sliced it open with one slash of my stone knife, smashed his brains out on his feasting table—used strong magic to stop the hearts of the soldiers that stood guard outside his door.<p>

Only my sister was left to destroy, and the throne would be within easy reach.

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><p>But she would not retreat. She came against me with a force strong enough to smash the city to pieces, even without the use of magic. We had solemnly promised that neither side would use it.<p>

I poured out the blood of my armies as water in a valiant attempt to defeat her. The noise of battle rang loud in the streets and the river of Charn ran red.

Then, one day, the feel of the air changed—a poisonous vapor spread throughout my army. Within the hour my troops lay dead where they had fallen, her magic venom seeping into their lungs.

I prepared the necessary magic and was waiting for her at the head of the stairs as she led her army up them.

"Victory," she said, her evil eyes flashing.

"Yes," I said, slowly. "Victory, but not yours." Then I spoke the deplorable Word. In an instant, I was the only thing living under a dying sun.

I have never regretted it. For what is the use of a life, unless lived in power? Better to reign over an empty world than to see another ruling over a living one.

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><p>AN Like I said, not exactly what I had hoped-a little too short, for one thing. By the way, the god she mentions-Halel-is a corruption of the Hebrew _son of the morning_. You will recognise that as Lucifer's name in Isaiah 14. I just thought-if she's completely evil, why not make her _completely_ evil?


End file.
